CHANDIGARH, September 12:
As part of the ongoing decisive war against drugs launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police have arrested 357 drug smugglers/suppliers after registering 269 first information reports (FIRs), including 35 commercial, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act across the state in the last one week.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill, while addressing his weekly press conference here on Tuesday, said that the Police have also recovered 6.90Kg Heroin, 14.41Kg opium, 5Kg Ganja, 6.44 quintals of poppy husk, and 2.10 lakh tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids besides recovering Rs 4.81 lakh drug money after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas beside laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state.
He said that with 17 more Proclaimed Offenders (POs)/Absconders in NDPS cases arrested this week, the total number of arrests reached 280 since the special drive to arrest POs/absconders was started on July 5, 2022.
Pertinently, Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab Gaurav Yadav had given strict instructions to all the CPs/SSPs to investigate backward and forward linkages minutely in each and every case, especially related to drug recoveries, even if they recover the meager amount of drugs.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Punjab Bhagwant Mann having given the Punjab Police a free hand and full liberty to wage war against drugs, extensive anti-drug drives have been launched to combat the menace of drugs from the border State of Punjab. The DGP has also strictly ordered all the CPs/SSPs to identify all top drug smugglers and the hotspots infamous for drug smuggling in their jurisdictions. He also directed the Police chiefs to effectively forfeit the property of all the arrested drug smugglers so that their ill-gotten money could be recovered.
